Days and weeks passed after I returned to Geneva, but I still could not bring myself to continue the work I had promised the creature I would do.
I was terrified that he would take revenge on me if I failed. Yet the thought of creating another being filled me with such disgust that I could barely force myself to consider it.
I knew what the task would require. To create a female creature, I would have to spend months studying, experimenting, and working in complete isolation all over again.
I had heard that an English scientist had made discoveries that might be essential to my work. At times, I considered asking my father for permission to travel to England and learn what I needed.
But I kept finding excuses to delay.
The strange thing was that my health had begun to improve. My strength was returning, and whenever I managed to forget my terrible promise, my mood became almost cheerful again.
My father noticed the change and was pleased to see me recovering. He tried to understand what was still troubling me.
Whenever the darkness returned, I escaped into complete solitude. I would spend entire days alone in a small boat on the lake, watching the clouds drift across the sky and listening to the gentle movement of the water.
Most of the time, the fresh air and sunlight eventually calmed me. When I returned home, I could once again greet my friends with a smile.
One day, after I came back from one of these lonely trips, my father asked me to speak with him privately.
“My dear Victor,” he said, “I am happy to see you enjoying some of your old pleasures again. You seem more like yourself.”
He paused and looked at me carefully.
“But I can see that you are still unhappy, and you continue to avoid our company. For some time, I could not understand why. Yesterday, however, I had a thought.”
His voice became more serious.
“If I am right, please tell me the truth. Keeping it secret will only make our suffering worse.”
I began to tremble.
My father continued.
“I have always believed that your marriage to Elizabeth would bring happiness to this family. You have loved each other since childhood. You grew up together, studied together, and seemed perfectly suited to one another.”
He sighed.
“But perhaps I misunderstood your feelings. Perhaps you think of Elizabeth only as a sister and have no desire to marry her.”
He hesitated before adding,
“Or perhaps there is another woman you love. If you believe you are bound by your promise to Elizabeth, that conflict might explain the misery I see in you.”
“Father, please do not worry,” I said quickly. “I love Elizabeth deeply and sincerely. No other woman has ever made me feel the affection and admiration I feel for her.”
I took a breath.
“My hopes for the future have always included our marriage.”
My father’s face brightened.
“I am very glad to hear you say that, Victor. If you truly feel this way, then I believe we can still be happy despite everything that has happened.”
He looked at me thoughtfully.
“But I want to free you from the sadness that has taken such a strong hold of you. Tell me honestly—would you object to marrying Elizabeth soon?”
I said nothing.
My father continued.
“We have suffered greatly, and recent events have destroyed the peaceful life we once enjoyed. I am growing old, and I would like to see you settled.”
He gently placed a hand on my shoulder.
“You are young, and you have enough money to support yourself. I do not believe an early marriage would prevent you from pursuing whatever useful or honorable plans you may have.”
“Still,” he added, “I do not wish to force you into anything. If you need more time, I will not be angry. I only ask that you tell me honestly what you want.”
I could not answer him.
My mind was filled with conflicting thoughts.
To anyone else, marrying Elizabeth immediately might have seemed like the happiest thing in the world. To me, it filled me with fear.
I had made a terrible promise.
I had promised the creature that I would create a female companion for him, and I had not yet fulfilled that promise. If I broke my word, I feared that he would destroy me and everyone I loved.
How could I celebrate my marriage while such a deadly threat hung over my family?
No.
First I had to finish the creature’s companion and allow the two of them to disappear forever.
Only then could I marry Elizabeth and hope for peace.
There was another problem.
If I was going to complete my terrible work, I needed knowledge that I could only obtain from certain English scientists. I could either write to them, which would take too long, or travel to England myself.
I could not imagine carrying out such disgusting work in my father’s house while living among the people I loved.
What if something went wrong?
What if someone discovered what I was doing?
Even worse, I knew that I might lose control of myself while working. I could not hide the horror and fear that would overwhelm me.
I had to leave my family.
Once I began the work, I believed I could finish it quickly. Then I could return home, free at last from the creature’s demands.
And perhaps, I secretly hoped, something might happen while I was away that would destroy the monster and release me from my miserable promise altogether.
With these thoughts in mind, I gave my father my answer.
“I would like to travel to England,” I told him.
I did not tell him the real reason. Instead, I gave him an explanation that sounded harmless and insisted that the journey would be good for me.
My father was relieved.
After watching me suffer for so long, he was simply happy to see me interested in something again. He believed that traveling, seeing new places, and meeting different people might finally restore my spirits.
He told me I could stay away for several months, or even as long as a year if necessary.
He had also arranged something without telling me.
He had spoken with Elizabeth and decided that Henry Clerval should meet me in Strasbourg and travel with me.
At first, I was disappointed.
I wanted to be alone so I could complete my terrible work without anyone watching me.
But Henry’s company would not be a problem at the beginning of the journey. In fact, I soon realized that I was grateful to have him with me.
His presence would keep me from spending every hour alone with my frightening thoughts.
Perhaps, I even thought, he could protect me from the creature.
If I traveled alone, what would stop that monster from appearing and reminding me of the promise I had made?
So I set out for England.
Everyone understood that Elizabeth and I would marry as soon as I returned. My father’s age made him unwilling to wait any longer.
For me, the thought of that marriage became the only reward I could imagine.
If I could complete this horrible task, I would finally be free.
Then I could marry Elizabeth, forget the past, and live peacefully again.
Yet another fear followed me as I prepared to leave.
I was leaving my family behind without telling them that a dangerous enemy was watching them.
The creature was angry with me. What if my departure made him even more furious?
He had promised to follow me wherever I went.
Perhaps he would follow me to England.
That thought terrified me.
But at least, if he followed me, my family might remain safe.
What frightened me most was the possibility that he would stay behind.
Even so, throughout this terrible period of my life, I had allowed myself to be guided by whatever fear or hope was strongest at the moment.
Now I convinced myself that the creature would follow me.
If he did, my family would be spared.
In late September, I finally left my homeland.
The journey had been my own idea, so Elizabeth accepted it. But she was deeply worried that I would suffer while I was away from her.
She had even helped arrange for Henry to accompany me.
She wanted to ask me to return as soon as possible, but her emotions were too complicated for her to say much.
When the time came to leave, she simply stood there with tears in her eyes and gave me a silent farewell.
I climbed into the carriage almost without knowing where I was going.
I barely noticed the people around me or the beautiful scenery outside.
The only thing I remembered clearly was giving orders for my chemical equipment to be packed for the journey.
Even that filled me with dread.
As the carriage carried me farther from home, I passed through beautiful landscapes, but I hardly looked at them.
My mind was fixed on one thing.
England.
And the terrible work waiting for me there.
For several days I traveled without interest in anything around me.
Eventually, I reached Strasbourg and waited there for Henry.
Two days later, he arrived.
The difference between us could not have been greater.
Henry was fascinated by everything he saw.
He admired every sunset, every sunrise, every change in the landscape. He seemed to find joy simply in being alive.
He pointed toward the sky and the distant hills with excitement.
“This is what it means to live!” he exclaimed. “I feel alive again!”
Then he turned toward me.
“But you, my dear Frankenstein, why are you so sad?”
I could not answer him.
I was trapped inside my own dark thoughts.
While Henry admired the evening star and the golden light of sunrise over the Rhine, I barely noticed either one.
If you wanted to understand what we saw on that journey, Henry could have described it far better than I ever could.
He was filled with wonder.
I was a miserable man carrying a terrible curse that seemed to shut me out from every possible happiness.
We had decided to travel down the Rhine by boat from Strasbourg to Rotterdam. From there, we would take a ship to London.
The journey was beautiful.
We passed green islands covered with willow trees and stopped at several charming towns.
We spent a day in Mannheim.
Five days after leaving Strasbourg, we reached Mainz.
Below Mainz, the Rhine became even more magnificent.
The river moved quickly between steep hills. Ruined castles stood on the edges of cliffs, surrounded by dark forests that seemed almost impossible to reach.
At one moment, the view was wild and frightening—black woods, rocky cliffs, ruined castles, and the dark river rushing below.
Then the boat would turn around a bend, and everything would change.
Suddenly we would see green vineyards covering the hillsides, peaceful villages, and busy towns beside the winding river.
We were traveling during the grape harvest.
As we floated down the river, we could hear the workers singing among the vineyards.
Even I, despite the darkness in my heart, could not remain completely unmoved.
I lay at the bottom of the boat and stared into the clear blue sky.
For a little while, I felt something I had almost forgotten.
Peace.
If the scenery affected me that deeply, it is impossible to describe how happy Henry was.
He seemed to believe that he had entered a magical world.
“I have seen the most beautiful places in Switzerland,” he said. “I have visited the lakes of Lucerne and Uri, where the snowy mountains rise above the water.”
He looked around at the riverbank with delight.
“I have seen those lakes during violent storms, when the wind throws the water into the air and the waves crash against the mountains.”
He smiled.
“I have seen the mountains of Valais and the countryside around Lake Geneva. But Victor, I like this place more than all of them.”
I looked at him.
“The Swiss mountains are certainly more powerful and mysterious,” Henry continued. “But there is something special about this river.”
He pointed toward a castle above us.
“Look at that castle on the cliff.”
Then he pointed toward another.
“And that one, almost hidden among the trees.”
He watched a group of workers returning from the vineyards.
“And look at those people coming home from the fields.”
Then he pointed toward a village tucked into the mountains.
“This place feels alive,” he said. “It feels as though nature itself belongs with humanity here.”
I listened to him and could not help admiring him.
Henry had a rare love for the natural world.
He did not simply look at beautiful landscapes.
He felt them.
Waterfalls, mountains, forests, clouds, and rivers seemed to awaken something inside him. Beauty was not merely something he saw. It was something he experienced with his whole heart.
Even now, remembering him brings me both comfort and pain.
Where is Henry now?
Is such a gentle and wonderful person truly gone forever?
What happened to that brilliant mind, filled with imagination and dreams?
Does he exist now only in my memories?
No.
His body may have been destroyed, but something of his spirit remains with me.
Forgive me for speaking of him with such sorrow.
These words can never fully express how much Henry meant to me, but remembering him brings a strange comfort even through the pain.
I will return to my story.
After we passed Cologne, the landscape became flatter as we entered Holland.
The wind was against us, and the river was too slow to help the boat, so we decided to travel the rest of the way by land.
The journey became less exciting because the scenery was no longer as dramatic.
Still, after a few days, we reached Rotterdam.
From there, we boarded a ship bound for England.
It was a clear morning late in December when I first saw the white cliffs of Britain.
The banks of the Thames looked completely different from the landscapes we had just left behind.
The land was flat but fertile, and almost every town seemed connected to some important event in English history.
We passed Tilbury Fort and thought of the Spanish Armada.
Then we saw Gravesend, Woolwich, and Greenwich—names I had known since childhood, even though I had grown up far from England.
At last, the towers and church spires of London appeared in the distance.
Above them all rose the great dome of St. Paul’s.
And nearby stood the Tower, a place whose name was deeply connected with England’s long and violent history.
London was finally before us.